Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-09-10

SS'hSi oooihibS J'ul pSthy St'ViSi
correcting your childish waywardness,
joining in your infantile sports, listen
ing to your evening prayers, toiling for
you with needle, or at the spinning
wheel, and on cold nights wrapping
you up snug and warm. And then at
last on that day when she lay in that
back room dying, and you saw her
take those thin hands with which she
toiled for you SO long, and put them to-
gether in Il dying prayer that COM
monded you TO the God whom she had
taught you to trust o, she was the
queen! The chariots of God came
down to fetch her, and as she went in,
all heaven rose up. You cannot think
of her now without Il rush of tender
ness that stirs the deep foundations of
your soul, and you feel as much child
again as when you cried on her lap;
and if you could bring her back again
to speak just once more your name, as
tenderly a she used to speak it, you
would be willing to throw yourself on
the ground and kiss the sod that covers
her, crying: "Mother! mother!" All!
she was the queen-she was the queen.
Now, a you tell me how many thou
sand miles a woman like that would
have to travel down before she got to
the ballot-boxp Compared with this
work of training kings and queens for
GOD AND ETERNITY,
how insignificant seems all this work
of voting for aldermen and common
councilmen, and sherifls, and consta-
bles, and mayors, and presidents. To
make one such grand woman as l
have described how many thousands
would you want of those people who
90 N the round of ungodliness, and
fashion, and dissipation, distorting their
body until in their moDstrosities they
seem TO Guido the dromedary and hip.
popotamus! going rs far toward dis
graceful apparel as they dare go, SC
as not to be arrested of the police
their behavior Il sorrow to the good
and a c~aricature of the vicious. and an
insult to the God who made them
women and not gorgons; and tramp
ing on, down through a frivolous and
dissipated life, to temporal and eternal
damnation.
. woman, with the lightning of your
soul, strike dead at your feet all these
alluremcnts to dissipation aud to fash
ion. Your immortal soul cannot be
fed upon such garbage. God calls
you to empire and dominion. VIII
you have itP o, give o God your
heart; give TO God Your best energies;
give to God all your culture; give to
God all your refinement; give yourself
to Him, for this world and the next.
Soon all these bright eyes viii be
quenched, and the voices VIII be
hushed. For the last time you will
look upon this fair earth. Fathers
hand, mothers hand, sisters hand,
child's hand will be no more in yours.
1T WILL BE- NIGHT,
and there Will come a cold wind from
the Jordan, and you must start. Win
it be q lone woman on atrackless moorp
All! no. Jesus will come up in that
hour and offer His hand and He will
say: "You stood by Me when you
were well; now ! will not desert you
when you are sick" One wave of His
hand, and the storm will drop; and
another wave of His hand, and mid
night shall break into midnoon; and
another wave Of His and, and the
chamberlains of God will come down
from the treasure-houses of heaven,
wit robes lustrous. b!ood-washed and
heaven-glinted, in which you will array
yourself for the marriage supper OF the
lamb. And then with Miriam. who
struck the timbrel of the Red Sea; and
with Deborah, who led the Lords host
into the fight; and with Hannah who
gave her Samuel to the Lord; and with
Mary who rocked Jesus to sleep while
there were angels singing in the air;
and with Florence Nightingale. who
bound up the battle-weunds Of the
Crimea, you will, from the chalice Of
God drink to the souls eternal rescue.
tropics-although more than tropical
fr%uitfulness filled the gardens; o
Italy-although more than Italian soft
ness filled the air. And I wandered
around, looking for thorns and n~ettles,
but found none of them grew there.
And l walked forth and | saw the sun
rise, and l said: When Will it set
againp" and the sun sank not. And |
saw all the people in holiday apparel.
and l said: ''When will they put on
workingman's garb again, and delve in
the mine, and swelter ut the forgeP"
but neither the garments or the robes
did they put of. And | wandered in
the suburbs, a2-d / said: '.Where do
they bury the dead of this great cityp"
and | looked along by the hills where
it would be most beautiful for the dead
to sleep, and ] saw castles, and towns,
and b~attlements; but not n m~auscleum,
nor monument, nor white slab could |
see. And | went into the great chapel of
the town, and / said: "Where do the
poor Worship where are the benches
on which they sitp" And a voice
answc cd; We have no poor in this
great city" And / wandered out,
seeking to find tho place where were
the novels of the destitute; and l found
mansions of amber, and ivory. and
gold, but 10 tear did | see or sigh hear.
l was bewildered; and / sat under the
shadow of n great tree, and l said:
What am I. and whence comes all
ALI ~ 49, " -